On Nov.18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a concert. If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is no small achievement for him. He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he walks with the aid of two crutches.
1995年11月18日,小提琴家伊扎克•帕爾曼舉辦了一場音樂會.如果你曾經聽過帕爾曼的音樂會,你就知道對他來說走上舞臺可不是一件容易的事情.他小的時候患過小兒麻痺症,所以他走路要藉助雙柺.
The audience sit quietly while he makes his way across the stage to his chair and begins his play. But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke. We thought that he would have to stop the concert. But he didn't. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again.
觀眾在靜靜地等待著他穿過舞臺坐在椅子上開始表演.但是這一次出了點意外.當他剛剛演奏完前面幾小節的時候,一根琴絃斷了.我們以為他不得不結束這場演奏會,然而他卻沒有.他停了一下,閉上了眼睛,然後向指揮示意重新開始.
The orchestra began and he played with such passion and such power and such purity as they had never heard before.
樂隊再一次開始演奏,他用前所未有的激情、力量和純潔的內心而演奏著.
Of course, anyone knows that it is impossible to play a harmonious work with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, but that night Itzhak Perlman refused to know that.
當然,我們都知道僅用三根琴絃是無法演奏出和諧的樂曲的.你我都明白這一事實,但是那晚伊扎克•帕爾曼就是拒絕承認.
When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. There was an extraordinary outburst of applause from every corner of the auditorium.
當演奏結束的時候,大廳裡先是一陣可怕的沉寂.接著,人們從座位上起立並歡呼起來,從觀眾席的每一個角落都爆發出了熱烈的掌聲.
He smiled, wiped the sweat from this brow and then he said in a quiet, sacred tone, "You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left."
他微笑著,擦去了額頭的汗珠,他用平靜的、虔誠的語氣說道,"有些時候音樂家需要明白,用不完整的樂器,你還能演奏出怎樣的音樂."
This powerful line has stayed in my mind ever since I heard it. Perhaps that is the definition of life-not just for artists but for all of us.
從那天起,我就一直銘記這句鏗鏘有力的話.要知道,也許這就是對生命的解釋-不僅是對音樂家,而且是對所有的人.
He has prepared all his life to make music on a violin of four strings, but all of a sudden, in the middle of a concert, he finds himself with only three strings; so he makes music with three strings, and the music he made that night with just three strings was more beautiful, more sacred, more memorable, than any that he had ever made before, when he had four strings.
伊扎克•帕爾曼一生都在做著用四弦小提琴演奏音樂的準備,然而,突然間,就在音樂會上,他發現他只剩下三根琴絃,於是他用三根琴絃演奏.那一晚他用三根琴絃演奏的音樂比他以往用四根琴絃演奏的音樂更美妙,更神聖,更難忘.
So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left.
我們要學會在這個動盪多變、充滿迷惑的世界裡演奏音樂,也許開始的時候傾盡所有來演奏,當有些東西不再擁有的時候,就用我們所剩下的來演奏音樂.
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